Soul Bond
by Little Minamino
Summary: When Kuwabara is brutally murdered, it's up to the former Tantei to track down his killers and rescue his captured soul before it's too late. Rated for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Today was different. Wrong. Kuwabara just couldn't put his finger on what or why. It was like a calm, so thick you could touch it, that exuded the eerie promise of something vile. The calm before the storm. It wasn't even his heightened spirit awareness that told Kuwabara that. His spirit awareness was telling him nothing at all. It was a gut feeling. Pure instinct was warning him that something was coming. He just didn't know what that something was. And that frustrated him to no end.

Kuwabara wasn't particularly worried though. Why should he be? He was the strongest human in the world and, while he couldn't compare to Kurama or Hiei and definitely not Yusuke, Kuwabara was more than capable of taking care of himself. Even among the Demon Realm there weren't many that could challenge him anymore, and those that could, wouldn't. Enki was their king now, even if the tournament next week would potentially change that, and even the S-class demons heeded his laws.

At first Kuwabara was skeptical of the supposed peace between worlds. Demons had spent centuries—millennia—hunting, killing, and even eating humans. Would they really just stop because some upstart punk (Urameshi of course) organized an epic King of the Hill free-for-all? But to Kuwabara's everlasting shock, they really did just stop. Well, mostly.

There would always be demons causing problems in Ningenkai. The low-class demons especially. They were driven by an insatiable desire to maim and destroy to the point where Kuwabara actually felt pity for them. Not enough to let them live, but he did make it a point to kill them as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Of course, technically, Kuwabara didn't need to do even that much. Along with the Border Patrol in Makai, Enki had created a Human Defense Committee in the human world for renegade and trouble causing demons. They were sort of like the new Tantei team on the block, except they answered to Makai instead of Reikai and were arguably more brutal and less interested in their job than anyone on Koenma's team ever was. Except maybe Hiei but, come on, it was Hiei.

There were six main divisions of the Committee, one for each continent (Antarctica naturally excluded), and a seventh sub-division that was only for emergencies. Kurama was the committee chair, sort of like the chief of police, which was good for him because that meant he could stay in Ningenkai with his family. Yusuke was on the Committee too and one of the three official members of the seventh division. The second was Kurama and the third was Hiei but the three of them were only called in if it was absolutely necessary. As the new (reserve) spirit detective—instated by Koenma following his forceful retiring of his father, Enma—and liaison from the human world, it only made sense that Kuwabara would join them on the few occasions they were deployed.

Division Seven wasn't called in often, only once since the Committee was first formed three years ago, but they had lost nothing between them during their time apart. As infamous as they were during their time as the Reikai Tantei, Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara were now legendary as news of their cases, many previously unknown, came to light. They still trained together regularly—even Hiei due in part to blackmail that Kuwabara was positive only worked because the small fire demon secretly wanted to join them—and their team work, which had always been surprisingly good, was now flawless.

They complimented each other's fighting styles and strategies so well that many believed they could read each other's minds. While not exactly the case, the boys had formed an unbreakable empathic link, forged from shared trials and mutual trust. They were best friends, soul brothers—no matter how much Hiei may vehemently deny it—and Kuwabara had their backs without question because he knew, no matter what happened, that they would always have his. Even Hiei.

At present, however, Kuwabara was the only one still currently in Ningenkai. Everyone on the Committee, including Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei, were in Makai preparing for the upcoming tournament, and had been for the last month. Unfortunately, there were some lower class demons that were not dumb enough to participate in the tournament but still smart enough to make trouble in Ningenkai. So, while everyone else on the Human Defense Committee was given leave to prepare and train, Kuwabara decided to stick around the human world to protect it until he knew all of the dangerous apparitions went back to Makai to watch the tournament. Because of that, Kuwabara wouldn't be heading over until after the preliminaries were over.

Fortunately, there hadn't been too much trouble, and to be honest, Kuwabara hadn't really expected any. He mostly stayed behind just to play it safe. Well, that and it was still early March. Kuwabara still had two weeks of school left until graduation, but thankfully, he had perfect attendance and a well worded note from Shizuru that would make it alright for him to miss both the last week of school and the graduation ceremony so he could make it to the tournament.

He wasn't going to fight of course, not this year at least, he just wanted to be there to cheer on his friends. Despite Yusuke and Kurama's assurances that they didn't mind, Kuwabara never really forgave himself for missing the tournament the first time around.

A sudden shift in the wind made Kuwabara pause mid-step as he crossed an open alley on his way home from school. His sense of smell wasn't as strong as Kurama's but he had picked up enough over the years to be able to distinguish between the various apparitions. In general, humans had a subtle musk that reminded Kuwabara of hard work and fragility while demons had a harder, more metallic sent, like old blood on a sword. Spirit folk, like Botan and Koenma, had a light, airy scent with just the faintest touch of death clinging to them.

The death in this airy scent made Kuwabara cringe and cover his nose. This smell made Kuwabara think of slaughtered, sunbaked corpses cooling in a summer breeze. It was absolutely disgusting.

Was this the 'wrong' he'd been feeling since he woke up that morning? That heavy and oppressive calm that weighed on his heart and mind without ever alerting his spirit? That thick, undeniable evil that made his knees feel weak and his heart suddenly race? Could he even handle this—whatever it was—on his own?

He didn't want to chance it.

Kuwabara was reaching for the communicator in his pocket when deep inside the alley, someone suddenly screamed and he realized abruptly that it didn't matter if he could handle it alone or not, any backup he called would never make it in time. Using the communicator would only eat up time he didn't have and that was utterly unacceptable. Calm, death, and evil be damned! He was Kuwabara Kazuma and he refused to turn his back on someone in need!

Dropping his school bag, Kuwabara raced down the alley, reaching out with his spirit awareness to find the source of the trouble. He couldn't sense anything, and that worried him, but the smell of death was growing stronger as the sounds of a struggle reached his ears. Kuwabara took a sharp right down a branch alley and held out his hand, calling his spirit sword to life as he ran. It wasn't his jigen-to—Kuwabara had yet to fully master that weapon and he didn't want to hurt the person he was trying to protect by accident—but it was strong enough to handle even the toughest B-class apparition.

"Someone please help me!" The person screamed and Kuwabara gritted his teeth as his temper began to rise. That was a woman's voice. Someone was attacking a woman! And brutally by the sound of it.

"Raahhhhhhhh!" Kuwabara yelled, racing into the open lot with his sword held high. "You damn punk! I'll kill you!"

But no one was there. No one, that is, except for a woman in a pale white kimono tied with a blood red obi. Her long black hair hung loose down her back and shoulders with her dark bangs obscuring her eyes from view. She looked completely unharmed and vaguely familiar as she stood amongst the garbage strewn lot, holding a wicked looking scythe that reminded him of the classic grim reaper. A soft, almost malicious smile turned up the corners of her red, red lips as she spoke.

"Welcome Kuwabara-san." She said and he recognized her voice as the one that screamed earlier and . . . someone else. But who? "I knew you would come if I called."

"You make me sound like a dog." Kuwabara said, eyeing her warily with his sword still alight in his hand. It was true that his code made it impossible for him to fight girls, but this woman seemed dangerous. If worse came to worst, he at least wanted the option to disarm her if necessary. That way he could get away and call Koenma about this apparently rogue ferry-girl.

The woman laughed a low, barely amused laugh. "Aren't you though?" she asked and it took Kuwabara a moment to realize she was responding to his dog comment. "You've always been on a leash Kuwabara-san. All that changes are the hands that hold it."

"Who are you?" Kuwabara said, ignoring her comment and the light sting it bought. "And what do you want from me?"

"I am no one you need to remember Kuwabara-san." She said before hefting her heavy scythe with disturbing ease. "I'm afraid you won't be around long enough for it to matter."

She disappeared from view and Kuwabara brought up his sword for a clumsy block, except he couldn't tell where she was coming from because he still couldn't sense her. And why the hell did she seem so familiar? A memory of indigo, a soft spoken voice, and elegantly tied hair crossed Kuwabara's mind and his eyes widened.

"You—!"

The sharp, tearing feeling of the scythe ripping through his body cut him short as he howled in pain. Kuwabara's consciousness faded rapidly as he glared at the woman. He had to tell someone, they needed to know. They _trusted_ her . . .

Opening his mind completely, Kuwabara called to the only person that could actually hear his mental voice. _Hiei_—!

The scythe was brought around again, and Kuwabara knew no more.

* * *

Kaliea: Hey guys! You probably thought I was dead or something, huh? Well unfortunately I'm just a lousy updater. Things have been pretty crazy lately, though, so I hope you'll cut me some slack ^-^; Anyway, this story is obviously much darker and grittier than anything I've ever done before but I hope you'll bear with me as I attempt to do my best to write it. I don't know why, but the idea just wouldn't let me go. Of course, this also means that I have yet another story to neglect but hopefully that won't be the case. Maybe. And for those of you who are still fans of my other stories, I'm working on the next chapters of Holding Out For a Hero and Shades of Gray. I can't promise they'll be out soon, but I do promise that I _am_ working on them. Thanks for all of your continued support! And don't forget to review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_Hiei_—! The voice came unexpectedly and died out even faster as a memory of indigo, a soft spoken voice, and elegantly tied hair crossed Hiei's mind.

What the hell? Where did that come from? It sounded a hell of a lot like the moron.

Two sensations hit Hiei at once, like taking one of Yusuke's heavy-handed punches straight in the gut: pain and loss. He grunted at the unfamiliar sensation, oblivious as to where it came from. A vague sense of detachment told Hiei that the pain wasn't his but for some reason the feeling of loss penetrated straight into his heart and decided to take up residence there. He'd be damned if he knew why.

"What is it Hiei?" Mukuro asked and Hiei realized he had stopped his sword mid-swing. He absently wondered why she didn't capitalize on his weakness—they were sparring after all—but he couldn't shake the damn weight on his heart long enough to really care.

"I'm not sure." He finally said, sliding his katana back into its sheath. "I have somewhere I need to be. We'll continue this later."

Mukuro watched him closely, her visible eye narrowing just slightly as she tried to read him. At long last she nodded, stroking his shoulder with the backs of her fingers in a rare gesture of compassion and support. He touched her hand briefly and left the training hall. Something was wrong. He just didn't know what. Or why.

The beeping of his communicator—why was he even carrying it in the first place?—caught Hiei's attention and he reached into his pocked to pull it out. He hated the device with a passion, not only because it gave Yusuke and that moron the ability to contact him whenever they wanted, but also because it was _powder pink_ and most decidedly a compact in shape and design. Just holding it was embarrassing as hell, but when he woke up that morning Hiei felt the inexplicable urge to call the moron. Not that he would. Hell no. But the sense of wrongness he felt upon waking up, a feeling that continued on even now, compelled him to at least carry it.

Flipping open the infernal devise—while mentally swearing to destroy Koenma for making it so – so – _that_—Hiei found himself face to face with Kurama's worried green eyes.

"What do you want fox? You're disturbing my training." That was a lie of course, but Kurama didn't need to know that.

"Hiei," Kurama said, his voice low and almost pained. "Did you feel that?"

Hiei stiffened, a vague sense of horror creeping up his spine. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I thought as much," Kurama said and Hiei instantly knew that the fox had seen through his lie. The worried red head glanced over his shoulder and Hiei suddenly remembered that Kurama was training with Yusuke that day. "Yusuke felt it as well. We wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Of course I'm fine," Hiei said blandly while valiantly fighting off his panic. If the cause wasn't Kurama and it wasn't Yusuke then there was only one other person it could come from. As loath as he was to admit it, there was a bond between the four former detectives. Something stronger than blood that tied them together and made them share thoughts, experiences—_feelings_, Hiei thought begrudgingly.

"Kuwabara isn't answering his communicator so Yusuke and I are headed to Ningenkai." Kurama said, breaking Hiei from his thoughts. "Will you come?"

"Hn." Hiei said as he closed the compact and stuffed it back into his pocket. He didn't bother to grab his cloak before he sprinted from Mukuro's fortress and headed in the direction of the nearest portal.

XXXXXXXX

Yukina hummed happily as she carefully molded balls of mochi. Kazuma was coming to visit after school and she wanted him to enjoy some snacks with his tea. He was working so hard lately to protect Ningenkai all on his own that Yukina always tried her best to make sure he could relax when he came to the temple. It was the least she could do.

After four years of knowing him, Yukina was finally understood the boisterous teen. She didn't at first, too naïve to the ways of men and women to see his words and actions for what they were. But the more she learned about the world, the more she began to recognize and make sense of Kazuma's actions. Recognize and reciprocate. He didn't know it yet, mostly because he wasn't ready to, but Yukina was very much in love with him. She loved him even before she knew what love was.

Kazuma was the spring to her endless winter. The beauty and life that promised the warmth of the summer to come. The summer of their life together. Thankfully it wouldn't be too much longer before she could make her feelings known. Kazuma was graduating from high school in two weeks. That graduation was the invisible line that, once crossed, made a boy became a man. And according to the books she borrowed from Keiko, it was the love of a true man that never died. Waiting for Kazuma to become a man was very hard for Yukina, but if it meant he would never stop loving her, then the wait was certainly worth it.

Setting the last of the mochi balls into the bamboo steamer, Yukina replaced the lid and shook out her hands to cool them from the steam's heat. Hopefully they would be done just as Kazuma arrived. It wouldn't be good for her to serve him cold food after all. Still humming, Yukina brushed the remaining flour off her hands and decided she should go change. Her pale pink dress was smudged with flour and bean paste and she was sure there was some on her face as well. And while she knew Kazuma wouldn't mind, he told her once that she looked cute that way, she still wanted to look her best for him.

Yukina was just checking the temperature on the stove to make sure it was perfect when there was a sudden tightening around her right pinky followed by an abrupt and audible snap. Her red eyes darted to her hand and found the ever-present red string that was there, tying her to Kazuma since he saved her from Tarukane, was broken. Horror clenched Yukina's stomach as her eyes went wide, starring disbelieving at the severed end of the now limp thread.

_Kazuma_ . . .

"No." She said brokenly. "Please . . . please no . . ." Tears welled in her eyes and she didn't even try to fight them. She couldn't feel him anymore. That constant warmth in the back of her mind, the steady pulse of the string around her pinky, both were gone. Kazuma was . . . gone . . .

"No! Kazuma!" Yukina dropped to her knees as priceless gems burst from her eyes only to tumble across the floor, forgotten. "Kazuma! Kazumaaaa!"

Bringing her hand to her stomach, Yukina gathered up the broken string and held it close to her abdomen as she wailed, desperately clinging to the last bit of Kazuma that she had left.

XXXXXXXXX

Shizuru was washing the dishes when she sensed it. A sudden emptiness, like her life had lost any and all meaning to it. The plate she was holding slipped through her fingers and shattered on the tile floor but she barely noticed. Horror coursed through her veins like liquid fire as she clenched her face in her hands.

"No." She said. "No, no, no. It's not possible. It isn't. It _can't_ be. Not Kazuma. Not my brother. Never. No!"

She was trembling like mad and her knees gave out beneath her as she dropped to the floor, completely disregarding the shattered glass. Her knees would have been cut to ribbons at the very least if warm, familiar arms hadn't grasped her elbows from behind and kept her from falling.

"Shizuru!" Koenma said and she looked back at him in dazed surprise. "Shizuru snap out of it! Shizuru!"

"Ko . . .enma?" She said, not entirely sure if he was really there or just a figment of her imagination. "But why—?"

"I don't have time to explain," Koenma said frantically as he pulled her upright and turned her to face him. "Where's your brother Shizuru? Where's Kuwabara?"

"I-I—"

He was asking for Kazuma? Why was he even in her house? What was going on and why did she feel so completely empty? The place in her heart that always held a part of her brother . . .that place . . .that emptiness . . .

"Shizuru!"

"I don't know!" Shizuru wailed. "I can't feel him! He's gone! He's _gone_!" Tears welled up in her eyes as she clung to Koenma's robe as tightly as she could. "Where is he? What have you done to him? I know this is your fault, you bastard! You sent him on another one of your damn cases and now he's—my little brother is—"

"Damn it Shizuru!" Koenma said, shaking her. "We don't know that for sure, but my intelligence can't find him! I need your help; you're the only one that can tell me where he is before it's too late!"

"This is your fault—!"

"I didn't send him anywhere Shizuru!" Koenma thundered and he finally broke through Shizuru's panic, though he couldn't completely dispel it. "He wasn't supposed to die today! There wasn't any reason that he _should_ have died today, do you understand me? Something is happening beyond my control and Kuwabara has been sucked into it! Now tell me where he is or it really _will_ be too late!"

"He—he was on his way home from school . . ." Shizuru said blandly, her eyes boring into Koenma's own golden brown, searching desperately for a lifeline to cling too. When she thought Kazuma died four years ago she could only handle the pain because she didn't lose her grip on his soul. She could still feel him there in her heart and that was the only think that kept her sane. But now even _that_ was gone. She couldn't feel him at all, and she couldn't find even the slightest trace of his presence anywhere. Shizuru was breaking apart from the inside out, and right now only Koenma's strong presence was keeping her from going to pieces. Her grip tightened on his sleeves.

"Koenma . . . Koenma please." Shizuru begged brokenly, tears leaking silently from her eyes. "He's my little brother. He's all I have left . . ."

Koenma pulled her tight against his chest and let her cry as he rested his chin on her hair. "We'll find him Shizuru. I won't let it end like this. Now tell me, what route does he take on his way home?"

Shizuru had no idea how she found her voice to answer.

* * *

Kaliea: Okay, for all of you who may be wondering, I do not hate Kuwabara. I actually rather love him. He's a wonderful character and, I believe, the heart of the spirit detectives. He's kind of like their conscience. It's his job to rein them in when things get really bad, to remind them that they're actually the good guys. In that way he holds them together and stops them from becoming those dark and evil creatures that they fight against. So part of what I want to do is explore who Kurama, Hiei and Yusuke would become with Kuwabara gone. Of course, they first have to get over their shock, which will probably take a few chapters, but eventually I think they'll start to darken without Kuwabara's light to keep them grounded. I guess we'll find out together, huh? Don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

There were no greetings exchanged as the three ex-Tantei met up at the park near Yusuke's old middle school. Hiei's bandana was gone and his Jagan was wide open but neither Yusuke nor Kurama lectured him about the dangers of being caught. Thirty-seven agonizing minutes had passed since their link with Kuwabara was broken and not one of them wanted to consider the possibilities as to why that happened.

"Hiei." Kurama said, as he ran and he felt rather than heard Hiei's annoyed grunt.

"I can't find him. That moron's energy is completely gone. It's just like when that bastard Tarukane hid Yukina with those damn talismans."

"But that's good news, right?" Yusuke said, his voice practically begging Hiei to agree. "That means he's still alive somewhere, right?" There was no answer. "_Right_?"

"Calm down Yusuke," Kurama said, not willing to give his friend the answer that he himself didn't want to hear. "Getting upset won't help us find him any faster. You know his habits the best. At a time like this, where would he normally be?"

"Four o'clock on a Friday?" Yusuke said. "I'd say back home. He was probably planning to visit Yukina over the weekend though. He does that a lot."

"Then taking into account the time of the occurrence, Kuwabara was most likely walking home." Kurama said. "Turn left up here; that will take us to his high school."

Hiei and Yusuke hung left without question only to curse when they found themselves in a crowded shopping district.

"Don't these morons have anything better to do with their damn lives besides shopping?!" Yusuke said, not caring that several of the so-called morons turned to give him a cold glare.

"Forget the streets!" Hiei said. "It's a waste of time."

"I hear that!" Yusuke agreed and together the three of them leapt from precipice to precipice until they landed on the roof of one of the department stores. Exclamations of shock resounded on the streets but the boys paid it no mind. They honestly didn't care if they revealed the existence of Makai or Reikai or any other damned -kai to the every human in world. They had something more important to deal with.

Pushing spirit energy into their feet, Yusuke and Kurama somehow managed to keep pace with Hiei as they roof hopped. To anyone watching, they were nothing but blurs against the late afternoon sun. As they grew closer to Kuwabara's school, Kurama had them take another route so they were headed along the street that would lead them to Kuwabara's house. Sharp green eyes frantically scanned the streets for any trace of his wayward friend until they spotted a familiar bag at the mouth of a dank alley.

"There!" Kurama said, and he dropped from the roof to land in the middle of the street. Again, there were screams and exclamations of surprise as Yusuke and Hiei dropped down beside him. More than one person wondered if the three boys were shooting a movie but none of the Tantei cared enough to listen to their mindless prattle. Kurama darted through the crowded streets and snagged the brown messenger bag. A familiar sent reached his nose and Kurama's fist clenched so tightly his nails drew blood from his palm.

"It's Kuwabara's." He said, showing it to Yusuke and Hiei. Kurama wasn't at all offended when Yusuke took it from him and flipped it open. The characters for Kuwabara Kazuma were printed neatly on the inside of the flap in Shizuru's familiar writing.

"Yeah," Yusuke said, his nails digging deeply into the hard leather satchel. "It's his alright."

"Down there," Hiei said, pointing into the alley, his jagan eye still pulsing on his forehead. "I can feel faint traces of his energy."

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" Yusuke demanded, tucking Kuwabara's bag under his arm. "Let's go!"

XXXXXXXX

Botan scrubbed the tears from her eyes and fought back a hiccup as she flew over the town searching for Kuwabara. Reikai was a complete mess because no one had any idea how the spirit detective disappeared or why.

The day began normally enough, except for a strange, ominous something that hung in the air. Botan had dismissed it as a result of her over active imagination and instead went about her job as ferry-girl with her usual cheerful bluster. She was in the middle of her third escort when she spotted Kuwabara leaving his high school to head home. Sending out a friendly wave of spirit energy, Botan smiled as he looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun, before he grinned and sent the wave back. The familiar comfort of Kuwabara's pure, golden energy washed over her and Botan sighed happily. Waving good-bye to her friend, Botan continued on to Reikai, chatting happily with the admittedly dreary soul sitting on the back of her oar.

After dropping the soul off at the booking department, Botan skipped down to Koenma's office to give him her daily report and, hopefully, convince him to give her the weekend off to spend some time with Keiko. With Yusuke gone, the slim brunette was feeling depressed again. And even though Keiko was invited to watch him take part in the Makai Tournament that year, she still missed her fiancé terribly. Botan thought that a good sleepover was just the thing Keiko needed to cheer her up, and she was already planning to invite Shizuru and Yukina along as well.

"Hello Koenma-sama!" Botan chirped as she bounced into her boss's office with barely a knock. "I've finished my work for today and I was hoping I could take the weekend off in—"

Botan never finished. Instead, her voice was stolen from her by the abrupt and almost painful loss of the familiar fragment of Kuwabara's soul that she carried in her heart.

Carrying a soul fragment of another person was extremely rare and wasn't something to take lightly. Unlike what the name suggested, it wasn't a broken piece of someone's soul that was taken out and given to another. Instead, it was something like a ball of affection, trust, and kinship that was created by a mutual acknowledgment of two souls.

In a strange phenomenon never before seen in any of the known worlds, Botan carried a shard from each of her friends: Keiko, Yusuke, Yukina, Hiei, Kuwabara, Shizuru, Kurama, Genkai and even Koenma while she, in turn, had given each of them a shard of her own soul.

The shards they all carried varied in size and potency. Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Kurama shared the largest soul fragments with each other. The fragments were so large and strong that when they shined the four boys looked as though they were all one quarter of each another. It was a wondrous and beautiful sight to behold. After them, Koenma and Genkai shared the largest soul fragments with the boys while the fragments the girl's shared depended on who the receiver was.

Botan was close to each of the boys in their own way. She looked at Hiei, Yusuke, and Kuwabara as her brothers and each had an equal share of her soul. The shards that Yusuke shared with Keiko and both Hiei and Kuwabara shared with Yukina were each slightly larger than the ones they shared with Botan, but she didn't mind. She understood why. It was the same reason the shard she shared with Kurama was slightly larger than the others.

The shards of her friends' souls, while not physically existent, were Botan's greatest treasures and she cared for them and nurtured them daily. So when Kuwabara's fragment suddenly disappeared from her heart—not broken or cracked or faded, just gone—Botan nearly collapsed from the loss. Her wide, pink eyes fixed on Koenma's face in horror as he leaped from his chair, suddenly in his teenage form, and slapped his hand against the intercom's call button.

"George!" He roared, and the entire office shuddered as George Saotome, Koenma's bumbling but kind hearted assistant, raced down the hall and slammed into the office. Koenma was already flipping through the channels on his video screen as the ogre entered.

"Yes Koenma-sama! What do you need?"

"Utilize the SDF! I want a reading on all demon activity in Ningenkai for the last twenty-four hours! Go!"

"Yes sir, Koenma, sir!" George retreated rapidly and Koenma threw down the remote control in a fit of rage.

"Damn! He's not on _any_ of these channels!"

"K-Koenma-sama?" Botan said, still shaky and weak from the loss of Kuwabara's shard. "What's happened? He's not—not—"

"Don't even say it Botan!" Koenma demanded and Botan gasped as Shizuru's shard suddenly grew weak and brittle. Koenma cursed again and pointed a Botan savagely.

"Go to Ningenkai and find him! I'll go to Shizuru and see what she knows."

"Y-yes sir." Botan stuttered as Koenma opened a dimensional gate into Shizuru's house (something he technically wasn't supposed to do) and disappeared. Botan summoned her oar again and hopped on, flying down the halls (something she _definitely_ wasn't supposed to do) in her rush to reach the human world and find her missing friend.

Botan made a bee-line for Kuwabara's school, the last place she knew for sure that he was, and began to trace his route home. She was making her second loop of the trek when Botan spotted a flash of hunter green and Christmas red in an empty lot behind a maze of alleys. Nervousness churned Botan's stomach as she made her way down. The green was the same color as Kuwabara's school blazer and it wasn't a color that one would usually see in an abandoned lot. The red . . . well, Botan didn't want to think about that one.

She was vaguely aware of Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke's energy signals coming closer as she dropped from the sky and landed in an alley that led out to the lot. As Botan was currently in her human form and didn't know for sure that it was Kuwabara there, she didn't want to land directly in the lot only to have to explain herself to any random bystanders about how she was able to fly. That would make it harder for her to find Kuwabara.

Steeling herself, Botan vanished her oar and snuck a peek around the corner of the alley. The lot wasn't exceptionally large but it was strewn with piles of trash that made it seem even smaller. Candy colored eyes scanned the lot but she didn't see any sign of Kuwabara. She was about to move on when she spotted a khaki covered leg and her heart sped up painfully. Those looked like Kuwabara's school trousers . . .

"Kuwa-chan!" Botan called as she hurried across the lot, jumping over piles of trash as she went. "Kuwa-chan! Kuwa-chan, answer me!"

Leaping the last pile of trash, Botan stopped next to Kuwabara's shoe and was about to kneel down to shake him when the sight registered in her mind. It was Kuwabara's leg alright, but it was _only_ his leg. Eyes wide and horrified, Botan traced the bloody path from the dismembered leg to the rent torso and severed head. Bile rose in Botan's throat but she was too horrified and sickened to even throw up. Instead, she just stared with a sense of detached horror, praying to god, any god, that this was some sick, perverted nightmare that would just let her _wake up_.

More long, agonizing seconds passed and nothing happened. Nothing changed.

"Kuwa . . . chan?" Botan said and silence followed. "Kuwa-chan?" Tears welled up in Botan's eyes and spilled over onto her cheeks. "Kuwa-chan? _Kuwa-chan_!" Still nothing. Something like a heavy brick broke loose from Botan's heart and fell like lead to the pit of her stomach.

Realization.

Kuwabara was dead.

"Uwaaaaaaah!" Botan screamed, as she collapsed to her knees and pressed her face against her knees, hot tears spilled down her cheeks to stain her pink kimono. She continued screaming and wailing, covering her head and trying to make herself as small as possible. Kuwabara was dead. And not only dead, but completely and disrespectfully mutilated. It was sick! It was terrible! It was—

. . . _impossible_ . . .

"KUWA-CHAAAN!" The pain, anguish, and horror became too much, but before Botan's mind could snap under the strain, there was a sharp pain in her neck and she fell, blissfully, into unconsciousness.

XXXXXXXX

Kurama gathered the unconscious Botan into his arms and held her tightly to his chest, but Yusuke couldn't bring himself to care. Because there, at his feet, mixed in with a pile of trash, was the dismembered body of his best friend. And yet, Yusuke wasn't angry. Or sad. Or anything at all. He was just empty. Completely void because, obviously, this wasn't real.

That wasn't really Kuwabara's body. It couldn't be. It was someone else, probably some dumb street kid that pissed off a low class demon. Which meant it couldn't be Kuwabara because that dumb idiot would be off chasing the demon shouting some crap about getting revenge because he was a man and . . . and . . .

No he wouldn't. That was a long time ago and Kuwabara had matured a lot since then. If his stupid best friend (who admittedly wasn't stupid at all if his grades were anything to go by) came across a demon attacking a human it never would have gotten this far. Instead of a human body lying on the ground in pieces, it would be a demon one. Except the demon body wouldn't be there either because Kuwabara would have reported the kill to Reikai or Makai by now and a clean-up crew would have been sent out to deal with the remains.

But it couldn't be Kuwabara. It just _couldn't_ be.

There was a sharp crack and Yusuke glanced to his right just in time to see an abandoned apartment building, which helped frame the lot, crumble into dust from Hiei's punch. But Hiei wasn't looking at the building he demolished. No, he was looking at the mutilated body—that was obviously NOT Kuwabara—with a mixture of shock, anger, and pain. His sharp red eyes were dry, but that just made the raw agony in them even worse. Hiei's fist was so tightly clenched that his nails dug into his palm and drew blood.

"What the hell is this?" Hiei said lowly, his voice deep and gravelly with barely repressed pain.

Something in Yusuke snapped, his eyes growing wide, and he turned his attention back to the body. Everything came rushing at him at once and Yusuke stumbled back in horror as he realized, fully realized, that it really was Kuwabara lying there. That really was Kuwabara's body. Kuwabara's blood.

"NO!" Yusuke screamed. "NO, NO, NO!" He dropped to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground with a primal scream, cracking the pavement of the lot with pure physical strength alone. "THIS IS ALL! SO! STUPID!"

No one said anything. It was pure silence that followed Yusuke's scream until soft, barely discernible sobs welled up from his chest.

" . . . Kuwabara . . ." Yusuke whispered brokenly. "Why . . .?"

The sound of police sirens rang in the distance but Yusuke barely noticed and he slammed his forehead against the ground, cracking it even further.

"WHY?!"

* * *

Kaliea: Yeah . . . I got nothing. Don't forget to review!


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